Hizbullah and Hamas are aware that meeting the Israeli army on the classic battlefield would be "devastating," Israel's outgoing army chief Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday.

"That's why they are positioned in urban areas," he added.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has asked STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to clarify reasons why former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed should not be granted access to certain investigation documents.

"With this order, the Pre-Trial Judge is inviting the Prosecutor to provide reasons why individual documents or groups of documents in his possession, and which were allegedly in support of Sayyed's detention in Lebanon, should not be provided to Sayyed," STL's press office said in a communiqué.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel announced on Monday that the negotiations over the formation of a new government have reached a dead end, "but our hand is still extended to the other camp."

He said during a press conference: "Since the start of the crisis, we have extended our hand to all sides and we have given Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati an opportunity to form a government of national partnership."

Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed on Monday that the party will not interfere in the protests in Egypt.

He said during a popular gathering in support of the Tunisian and Egyptian people: “We cannot stand idly by when the dispute is between the oppressed and the oppressor.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Monday noted that a "drastic change" has occured in Lebanese politics, after the Hizbullah-led alliance forced the collapse of Saad Hariri's unity government last month.

"An entire approach will be changed ... after the downfall of several political parties as well as spiritual and political leaders ... and media outlets," Aoun said after presiding over a meeting for the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon started a hearing Monday on how to define the crime of terrorism as listed in the draft indictment filed under seal by prosecutor Daniel Bellemare.

"Today's proceedings show that Lebanon, a proud founding member of the United Nations, is set for a course of judicial accountability through the rule of law," presiding judge Antonio Cassese said as the hearing opened before the STL, based in Leidschendam near The Hague.

Former Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh has said that the dispute among Lebanon’s politicians lies on southern Lebanon and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“Some believe that southern Lebanon should remain alive to confront Israel in the name of the Arab group as long as no solution has been yet reached on the Arab-Israeli conflict,” Salameh told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in an interview published Monday.

A dispute between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun over the distribution of Cabinet posts may delay the formation of a new government.

Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to the Hizbullah-led March 8 camp, on Monday quoted well-informed sources as saying that government formation hit a snag after a "conflict" broke out between Suleiman and Aoun over the interior ministry portfolio.

Phalange party official Sami Gemayel denied that he was being named to fill a cabinet seat and hinted that the March 14 alliance would participate in the government only if it gets veto power.

While criticizing “the huge concessions made by the March 14 forces,” Gemayel said: “These concessions and the results of negotiations on the international tribunal led us to where we stand today.”

An Israeli official has said that a plan to withdraw from the Lebanese side of the occupied border village of Ghajar is now on hold due to recent changes in the region, including Lebanon.

"We don't want to give the Hizbullah government free gifts," the official in Jerusalem told Israel’s Ynet news website, hinting that for the time being the plan to withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar has been frozen.